Baby born with heart outside her body is recovering after surgery

Houston Chronicl, Houston Chronicle

By Houston Chronicle

Updated 3:54 pm, Tuesday, November 20, 2012

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is defying the odds and recovering after lifesaving surgery at Texas Children's Hospital, where she was born five weeks ago. Audrina Cardenas? condition was discovered during an ultrasound 16 weeks into her mother's pregnancy. The mother, from Midland, Texas, was referred to Texas Children's, where a team of doctors worked together on her care after she was born. Photo: Texas Children's Hospital / HC

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is...

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is defying the odds and recovering after lifesaving surgery at Texas Children's Hospital, where she was born five weeks ago. Audrina Cardenas? condition was discovered during an ultrasound 16 weeks into her mother's pregnancy. The mother, from Midland, Texas, was referred to Texas Children's, where a team of doctors worked together on her care after she was born. Photo: Texas Children's Hospital

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is...

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is defying the odds and recovering after lifesaving surgery at Texas Children's Hospital, where she was born five weeks ago. Audrina Cardenas? condition was discovered during an ultrasound 16 weeks into her mother's pregnancy. The mother, from Midland, Texas, was referred to Texas Children's, where a team of doctors worked together on her care after she was born. Photo: Texas Children's Hospital / HC

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is...

Ashley Cardenas, holds the finger of her daughter, Audrina Cardenas, five weeks old, who is recovering at Texas Children's Hospital after being was born with her heart outside her body Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012, in Houston. Surgeons at Texas Children's Hospital preformed a life-saving surgery five weeks ago to repair Audrina's heart and she is now the longest surviving baby recorded in Texas to be born with this condition. Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / 2012 Houston Chronicle

Ashley Cardenas, holds the finger of her daughter, Audrina...

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is defying the odds and recovering after lifesaving surgery at Texas Children's Hospital, where she was born five weeks ago. Audrina Cardenas? condition was discovered during an ultrasound 16 weeks into her mother's pregnancy. The mother, from Midland, Texas, was referred to Texas Children's, where a team of doctors worked together on her care after she was born. Photo: Texas Children's Hospital / HC

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is...

Ashley Cardenas, left, and her sister, Raquel Cardenas, look at Ashley's daughter, Audrina Cardenas, five weeks old, who is recovering at Texas Children's Hospital after being was born with her heart outside her body Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012, in Houston. Surgeons at Texas Children's Hospital preformed a life-saving surgery five weeks ago to repair Audrina's heart and she is now the longest surviving baby recorded in Texas to be born with this condition. Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / 2012 Houston Chronicle

Ashley Cardenas, left, and her sister, Raquel Cardenas, look at...

Audrina Cardenas, five weeks old, is recovering at Texas Children's Hospital after being was born with her heart outside her body Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012, in Houston. Surgeons at Texas Children's Hospital preformed a life-saving surgery five weeks ago to repair Audrina's heart and she is now the longest surviving baby recorded in Texas to be born with this condition. Photo: Melissa Phillip, Houston Chronicle / 2012 Houston Chronicle

Audrina Cardenas, five weeks old, is recovering at Texas Children's...

A baby girl who was born with her heart outside of her body is defying the odds and recovering after lifesaving surgery at Texas Children's Hospital, where she was born five weeks ago. Audrina Cardenas? condition was discovered during an ultrasound 16 weeks into her mother's pregnancy. The mother, from Midland, Texas, was referred to Texas Children's, where a team of doctors worked together on her care after she was born. Photo: Texas Children's Hospital

A baby girl born with much of her heart outside her body is defying the odds and recovering after lifesaving surgery at Texas Children's Hospital, where she was born five weeks ago.

Doctors at Texas Children's held a news conference Tuesday to share the story of Audrina Cardenas, whose condition was discovered during an ultrasound 16 weeks into her mother's pregnancy. The mother, from Midland, was referred to Texas Children's, where a team of doctors delivered the baby and worked together on her care after she was born.

Audrina suffered from ectopia cordis, a rare condition in which a baby's heart is located partially or totally outside the chest. Only 8 out of 1 million babies are born with the condition, and 90 percent of those babies are either stillborn or die within the first three days of life. (You can see video of the baby's heart beating above.)

"She's my little miracle baby," said Audrina's mother, Ashley, still waiting to hold the baby for the first time. "I feel blessed."

Dr. Charles Fraser, the Texas Children's surgeon-in-chief who led the six-hour open-heart procedure, said Audrina is doing very well and should develop normally. He said she will remain in intensive care at Texas Children's for some time.

Doctors gave Cardenas three options after the ultrasound showed the condition: abort the baby, bring her to term but then provide only comfort care to ease any suffering before she dies, or surgically construct a cavity in the chest to make space for the portion of the heart that was outside the body.

At that time, the doctors did not know Audrina's chances, whether she was a good candidate to survive or more likely to be stillborn or die soon after birth.

"You'll never know what it feels like to make that decision until you're faced with it," Cardenas said. She said prayer and the support of family and friends helped her decide.

Audrina still will need surgery to correct heart defects, but doctors said they hope to wait at least a couple of years to give the chest time to heal and develop. The defects, involving holes in chambers of the heart, are not uncommon in babies and are fairly easily treated.